Zhuge Liang

Gimrick is still inspecting Azure when the carriage suddenly stops. He lifts the curtain covering the carriage and sees a tall man standing in front of it. The man, who looks similar to Han in age and wears a Taoist robe, is a stranger to Han. However, Gimrick recognises him as Zhuge Liang, the general of stormhold kingdom.

This man is holding a sword which makes his intentions clear to attack them. "It seems that the king is very desperate about the beast that he sends you here even after knowing that it is under the care of the merchant guild. Does the king want to go against the orders of the guild?" Gimrick says, trying to handle the situation without having to battle.

He knows that even though their cultivation levels are equal, the general has an advantage due to his incredible fighting experience. "Master Gimrick, you already know I can't refuse the royal command. You can peacefully hand over the beast and I'll let the three of you go or you can refuse and I'll have to arrest all of you for disregarding the royal command." Zhuge says with a nonchalant smile on his face as he moves closer.

Gimrick knows that if they fight, the chances of victory are very low and all three of them will be in danger. He wants to hand over Azure even though the beast is very precious. But looking at Yeshia, he realises that she regards the bird as a part of the family and he already promised Yeshia that he will protect this family. Therefore, he will have to fight for her.

Gimrick flicks the broad sleeve of his gown and a black coloured axe appears in his hand. The sleeve has a dimensional pocket attached to it where items can be stored. A dimensional pocket is just like a spatial ring, it contains a different space inside it. The space inside a spatial ring is very huge so it is very difficult to create, it is very rare and precious and can only be owned by elite cultivators. While as a dimensional pocket encompasses a small space inside it, is easily made and can be found anywhere so every amateur cultivator has one. Even normal people without cultivation can use it, you just need to have enough gold to buy it.

Seeing that Gimrick is ready to battle for the beast, Zhuge becomes extremely elated. He holds his sword with both hands, passes spiritual energy into the blade making it glow with blue light, and swings the sword creating a beautiful blue arc of energy in the air that travels at insane speed. Knowing the intensity of the attack, Gimrick panics and immediately places his axe in the way of of the attack to block it. Even after blocking the attack, some of the residual energy still ends up slicing the upper part of the carriage.

Fortunately, no one in the carriage gets hurt but it still indicates the danger they are facing and alerts them. Yeshia is absolutely horrified seeing the carriage getting sliced just few centimetres above her head. She is also worried about her father and grandpa and is holding Azure tightly in her embrace.

This is her first time being involved in a fight and she is terrified.

She couldn't even think about hurting an insect let alone a human.

Gimrick signals Han to take Yeshia and run. Han is reluctant to leave him alone but he also knows that him staying there won't solve anything and will instead hold back Gimrick. So he lifts Yeshia and begins running towards the forest. Seeing them run away, Zhuge wants to end the battle quickly and chase them.

The two of them get into an intense battle. Zhuge initially thought that he would instantly defeat Gimrick who is an alchemist and shouldn't have any fighting capabilities but he was wrong. Gimrick did have some battle experience although not as good as Zhuge but he was still comparable to an average warrior in terms of fighting techniques.

Zhuge takes out few talismans and burns them with spirit energy creating a magical rune on the ground next to him. Suddenly a paw with huge claws appears from the rune then comes another claw and finally the whole body is out. It is an abnormal sized wolf with fur absent on some parts of its body and one side of its face doesn't have any skin on it so the skull is visible. It looks scary.

The wolf was not a summon rather it was a monster created by the residual energy expelled when a cultivator dies according to the lore of this world.

The wolf chases in the direction Han and Yeshia ran. Gimrick wants to stop it but Zhuge doesn't give him a chance and the battle becomes even more fierce with both of them wanting to end it quickly.

Han has reached the forest and is running as quickly as possible with Yeshia and Azure but he is still having an internal conflict. He cares for the safety of Yeshia but he also doesn't want to leave Gimrick alone. Although he wouldn't be of much use there, he still wants to be there because Gimrick was like a father to him. He didn't want to lose him.

Han searches in the forest and finds a small pit to hide Yeshia in. He places Yeshia there and tells her to wait for him. He covers the pit with leaves and runs back.

Although Yeshia is still scared, she knows that her father would only add to the problem if he went back so she insists her father not go back but her father is firm on his decision and runs back. She is helpless she can't do anything other than staying there with Azure.

Few minutes after Han left, Gimrick hears a loud desperate scream that sounds like Han and his heart stops. His thoughts run wild disrupting his concentration from the battle for a second but that is enough time for Zhuge who runs his sword through Gimrick's chest.